The Genetics, Biotechnology and Seed Science unit and the Nutrifood laboratory of the Faculty of Agronomic Sciences at the Université d’Abomey-Calavi were represented in Brussels in the framework of the kick off meeting for projects selected by the European Union under the Intra Africa Academic Mobility Scheme.
The Intra Africa Academic Mobility Scheme is a European Union program designed to encourage international learning mobility across the African continent by providing support to consortia of African universities and scholarship opportunities for African trainees, students and staff.
The PATH, GENES II and ORPHAN projects which are among the fifteen selected projects out of the 127 submitted projects, focus on sustainable and green agriculture, with the latter two focusing on the development and mitigation of climate-smart crops.
More specifically, PATH aims at increasing the capacities of young African Scientists and entrepreneurs in precision agriculture to build climate-resilient and adaptable agrifood systems will be reinforced.
ORPHAN aims at addressing current and future challenges related to climate change and agrifood systems with a focus on promising orphan plant species of Africa. GENES II aims at building scientists’ capacity in genomic and digital technologies, specifically artificial intelligence and machine learning to accelerate crop improvement for climate change adaptation and mitigation.
The three projects, implemented by the University of Abomey-Calavi in collaboration with a consortium of universities across Africa, aim to build the capacity of more than 190 researchers in order to address common concerns about climate change and food security in Africa.
As Sophie BEERNAERTS, Director of the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), pointed out, »With these projects, we will empower students and address the priority goals of the countries ».
Following workshops packed with knowledge and experience sharing, project stakeholders at various levels are now better equipped in terms of project management, promotion and selection, mobility management, capacity building and dissemination, to name a few.
‘’Through these workshops, we learnt more about EU strategy in Africa regarding higher education transformation. As we leave this meeting, we are not just better equipped, but also filled with a shared sense of understanding and purpose to achieve the projects’ objectives and contribute to a more sustainable and resilient agrifood landscape in Africa. » Said Dr Vodjo Nicodème Fassinou Hotegni, PATH project coordinator.